Humans
We summarize the week's science breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Genetics
DNA databases are too white, so genetics doesn’t help everyone. How do we fix that?
A lack of diversity in genetic databases is making precision medicine ineffective for many people. One historian proposes a solution: construct reference genomes for individual populations.
- Health & Medicine
People who have had COVID-19 might need only one shot of a coronavirus vaccine
Antibody levels in health care workers who had COVID-19 and got vaccinated were more than 500 times higher than those vaccinated but never infected.
- Environment
‘Green’ burials are slowly gaining ground among environmentalists
Researchers asked older environmental activists what they planned to do with their bodies after death. Many were unaware of “green” burial options.
- Health & Medicine
A music therapist seeks to tap into long-lost memories
Alaine Reschke-Hernández is partnering with neuroscientists to figure out how music improves Alzheimer’s patients’ lives.
- Archaeology
An ancient dog fossil helps trace humans’ path into the Americas
Found in Alaska, the roughly 10,000-year-old bone bolsters the idea that early human settlers took a coastal rather than inland route.
- Health & Medicine
What you need to know about J&J’s newly authorized one-shot COVID-19 vaccine
Even as a third COVID-19 vaccine becomes available in the United States, questions remain over how well it works and if people will take it.
- Health & Medicine
Global inequity in COVID-19 vaccination is more than a moral problem
Wealthy countries are vaccinating at much higher rates than low-income countries. Such inequities could ultimately prolong the pandemic for all.
- Health & Medicine
Can a COVID-19 vaccine’s second dose be delayed? It’s complicated
New data indicate that delaying second doses of COVID-19 vaccines may still provide protection, but some scientists aren’t convinced it’s OK.
- Health & Medicine
COVID-19 vaccines may be ready for teens this summer
Vaccinating children against COVID-19 is a crucial step towards reaching herd immunity and returning to pre-pandemic life.
- Animals
Having more friends may help female giraffes live longer
A more gregarious life, even while just munching shrubbery, might mean added support and less stress for female giraffes.
- Anthropology
Ardi may have been more chimplike than initially thought — or not
A contested study of hand and foot fossils suggests this 4.4-million-year-old hominid was a tree climber and branch swinger.
- Health & Medicine
Redefining ‘flesh-colored’ bandages makes medicine more inclusive
Peach-colored bandages label dark-skinned patients as outside the norm, says med student Linda Oyesiku. Brown bandages expand who gets to be normal.
